WAR AND PEACE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 194, 21 September 1914, Page 4

WAR AND PEACE.

THE BANE OF INTERNATIONAL RIVALRY.

INTERESTS OF NATIONS IDENTICAL. Matthew v., 9: "Blessed ara the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Dr Erwin, of Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, preached on the war yesterday, taking the aboA e text as his "subject. The substance of his remarks was as follows:

These words of Jesus seem strangely at variance with, the, din of battle and the bruit of war s amidst which we are living at present, and the time may seem wholly inopportune for the consideration of a text like thife. With the whole of Europe turned into an armed camp, and seven nations, five of them in the first v rank as European States and world Powers, devoting their whole strength and resources to the prosecution of war, it is evident that, whatever service the peacemakers may have rendered, the gospel of peace has failed, so far, to curb those jealousies of nations anjl bridle those passions of men which make for international strife. Since the war spirit, seems in the very air, so that it is throbbing in the pulses of us all — at such a time, if the voice of peace be lifted up, then it must seem as if it would prove a voice crying in the wilderness. Now I must confess if I had been choosing a text in the ordinary way I would not have selected this text at the present time, but seeing Has come up in the regular course of the series of sermons I did not see, how I could pass it over. As a nation, we are taking a part in this gigantic struggle; but, I think, we may say in no spirit of self-righteousness or boastfulness we are taking an honourable part, and in the early stages the whole influence of our statesmen was exercised on behalf of peace. '

A Champion of the Weak. We are in the strife with no view to self-aggrandisement, but, in the first place, as; the champion of a weak State, whose neutrality the - honour of the nation had been pledged to protectj and when that neutrality had been flagrantly violated by a nation that had given similar pledges. But, whatever may have been the : reasons which first led to Great Britain engaging in this war, we cannot, and must not, hide from ourselves that now she is fighting for her very existence as a world-wide Empire. No one need fail to see that if in this struggle Germany should be victorious, then England would become a second-rate Power, and her world-wide dominion would be gone. Thus the Empire mission of Great Britain is endangered, and what we are face to face with is the safety and existence of the JJmpire. When that is at stake, .much is at stake that a Christian man must value. That influence has been emphatically a peacemaking, peace-securing force in the world. The power and the flag of Great Britain stand for justice and liberty everywhere. It would be too much to say that as a nation we have not at times been influenced by unworthy motives which have led to unworthy acts, but these have been occasional and exceptional to the method of British rule. / Rallying to the Flag.

The .way in which every part of the Empire has rallied to the flag and is giving of its manhood and resources for the defence of Britain is the most convincing testimony to the righteousness and beneficence of British rule. Amongst these, as the most striking example, one naturally singles out the help that India is giving. In that country Britain was faced with the most difficult problem of government that has ever confronted any nation. She had to govern an alien people wholly different in modes of thought and customs from Western peoples, and not a people but congerie of nations differing in languages and in-religions, peoples who before her advent amongst them were ever at strife amongst themselves; and the present attitude of that vast Empire is a demonstration to the .wisdom and beneficence with which she has performed that task of government. In her. hour of danger these peoples have rallied in their thousands to her help, their princes are pouring out their treasure, have volunteered themselves, and if they are not already in a little time they will be fighting side by side with our kith and kin to defend our right and to maintain our cause which they have thus made their own. To my mind, this Imperial mission evidenced not only by our wide Dominion but also by this testimony of all peoples under British rule to the wise and good character of that government, amounts to a divine vocation.

But if there |>e evidence' that the Imperial mission of our nation i s t a divine vocation, then the task of maintaining the Empire will become in the minds of Christian men a religious duty. And if we have tended to take our Imperial greatness too much as, a matter of course, then surely the sacrifices which this crisis is demanding will teach us that sacrifice is always a condition of power.

"When Wars Shall Cease." Thus, looking at the way in which we were almost forced into the strife and the issues 'that are at stake, the fact of it need not prevent us from considering the ideal at which Chrisaims and which, as it grips men more powerfully and its sway becomes more universal, will, we believe, be actually realised when wars shall cease to the ends of the earth. Let us then ; turn to the consideration of the text. Peace is used in at least four different senses in the New Testament: — (1) Peace with God. (2) The peace of God. (3) Peace with our fellows: "Have peace one with another." A brief exposition of these was given. (4) Then peace is used as opposed to a state of war. It is, I think, beyond a question that the Bible contemplates a times when universal peace shall reign. Two great utterances in the prophecies of Isaiah (chapter ii., 6-8, and chapter ii., 4) have ever lived in the minds of , Christian men, and kept alive the hope that all evil passions will be curbed or changed, a nd that the ravages and evils of war will cease. Nor can we understand the spirit of the religion of Jesus Christ, and its outlook towards a worldwide kingdom, without being persuaded that its effect would be the elimination of war and the reign of universal peace. We contemplate and labour for the establishing of a world-wide kingdom, in which distinctions of nationality will not count, and men will be bound in the bonds of a universal brotherhood, and

by the power and force of these it would eliminate the causes that make for strife. That wars may cease to the ends of the earth is a part of the continual intercession of the Church. Thus

the subject of international peace is an aspiration of the Church; it is a con- - summation for which she ever prays, but has it its due influence on our thoughts, and are we moved to such action as will hasten the time when the disputes of nations will be settled otherwise than by an appeal to arms? Some of the Evils of War. We must look at war in the light of naked truth, for it is only* as men realise that war is a gigantic evil that they will be led to examine into the , causes, and seek to remove them. With i the greatest war in the history of nations actually being waged, it ought not to be difficult for us, by a little exercise of imagination, to make real to ourselves the evils of war. Try and figure i to your minds the number of human lives that have been, and may yet be, sacrificed, the numbers that will be crippled and maimed, and what these will mean in widows and fatherless children, with all that entails of increased struggle for those families. Then think i of the destruction of property, the in- . terruption of trade, and the hardship these will entail on countless numbers

of others, though not themselves actually engaged in the strife. Think, also, of the gigantic cost of maintaining those forces and armaments engaged in the strife, which means the swelling of the national debts of all those nations, and a consequent tax on the future industry of all their citizens in order to pay the interest. In bald language, and without dwelling on the horrors, these are some of the evils of war. It may be that it is possible to entertain sentimental opinions of peace, and it may be that, as it has been said, there are worse evils than war, "but it is such a gigantic evil that it is a terrible scourge with which to purge those evils. The evils of war are so gigantic that if if be a preventible evil, and we believe it is, it is our bounden duty to examine into the causes of it, and seek to remove them.

Ideals of Peace,

It is my opinion that \the present

situation has exploded the fallacy that ''the best-way to preserve peace is to be prepared for war.'' All these nations were prepared, and effectually prepared, for war. The one element

that for yeai*s past has" been threatening the peace of Europe - has been the feverish haste with which the nations

have been increasing their armaments. That was to a great extent due to the lead'given by Germany till the military power of that nation became soxstrong that she was rattling the sworci in the scabbard every little rift that occurred in the relations of any of the States of Europe, and the crisis was bound to come. , The influence of Christian men

ought to be thrown in the scale against these vast armaments, and when it comes to the settlement after the -strife

the pressure of public opinion ought to be. brought to bear on those who may represent the nation then that all their influence should be used to' bring about a mutual agreement to decrease these armaments, which is perhaps all that in the meantime we can hope for. But the iaim of forming an international public opinion that will bring about a mutual disarmament and the settlement of national disputes by arbitration ought not to be lost sight of, and the. cooperation of Christians-in other nations sought to labour for that object. Then there is, I think, a fallacy that influences our politics and consequently also international polities, viz.j that the interests of one nation can only be advanced at the expense of neighbouring nations. Politicians ai'e frequently preaching about the rivalry of nations in this evil sense. The truth is that the interests of the nations are identical in so far as they are true, and reasonable, and right in the sight of God. But as long as the present doctrine of the rivalry of nations dominates the minds of those who shape the policies of nations, so long there will be national jealousies, and vthese only need to become heated ,to\ produce international strife.